The apostle is who? The Meaning of the Apostle

Although in their faith the Russians are not inferior to anyanother nation, yet not many of our people can boast of being familiar with church terminology. Yes, and that's surprising, because all the subtleties of the Orthodox faith can only be learned in the theological seminary. And yet many still are interested in the question: who is an apostle? Is it a disciple of Christ or a holy messenger?

Well, let's try to understand the meaning of thiswords, so that in the future such misunderstandings no longer arise. And for this we need to look into the past and find out where the first apostle appeared and who he was.

Disciples of Jesus Christ

So, let's start with the fact that the original apostleswas twelve. They were ordinary people who later became disciples of Jesus Christ and always followed him. From here one can deduce the first meaning of this word: the apostle is one of the first disciples of Christ.

The life of the twelve apostles is well known, soas described in holy scripture. However, most of the chapters in the New Testament are written by these same disciples. Thus, there is the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and also John. Because of this, they are also called the four evangelists of the Lord God.

Bearers of the Word of God

A little later, people began to see a different meaning in the wordapostle. This was due to the fact that the disciples of the son of God themselves became teachers. After all, as we know, Jesus was crucified on the cross, after which he was resurrected and appeared to his apostles. He ordered them to bring his words to people around the world, so that they would know about the Kingdom of God.

The apostles obeyed their teacher. They threw lots, which determined the route of each, and set out on their journey. Thanks to their work and faith, the world learned about who Jesus Christ was, what he believed and taught.

That is why many people believe that the apostle -this is the messenger of God, preaching the good news. But in reality, both are true, but at the same time, when we hear the word of the apostle, for some reason, the twelve disciples of Christ always come to mind.

Were there other apostles?

And yet the apostles were not only disciplesJesus. So, the church attributed this title to St. Paul, although he was not familiar with life with Christ. Moreover, in some Christian denominations, its doctrines are an order of magnitude higher than the evangelical.

Also, according to the writings of Luke, Jesus sent seventy-two apostles to all the world's lands, with various assignments and assignments. Eastern Christians honor them as well as the true disciples of Christ.

So it turns out that the exact number of apostles is rather difficult to determine. With certainty, it can only be said that the first were the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ.